Need help to simplify, declutter and pare down to keep everything in small space.

[EducatedbyLife]

Hi all,

 

First off, let me confess I'm a book junkie  - I love to see books on shelves, it just makes my heart sing. I have so many books I don't have room for them, some are boxed as I'm struggling to part with them, partly because just one day I may need it, the other reason is the cost in the first place. I have bookcases in my attic/loft where I store an overflow. I don't even know all of what I own, and find it hard to put my hand on something which will then interrupt schooling why I go look. Think I need to confess I'm a clutterbug too  :glare:

 

I have a schoolroom which we use to store books and resources, it's bulging! We tend to home school at the dining table, sofa, anywhere that's comfy really. Well it looks like in the not too distant future, I will have my father come live with us. He will need my designated school room, so my 'stuff' needs to go, I have nowhere else it can go other than the loft. Which needs to be cleared of all the non essential books.

 

So I'm not going to be taken unawares by my fathers sudden arrival ( no date yet, but could happen anytime) I need to plan NOW, and use this as a reason to get rid of books (just typing that is making me choke)

 

Basically I need to pare down from 4 big bookshelves, to a small waist height one with 3 shelves, I may be able to squeeze an ikea expedit 4 cube bookcase where I would want to put the girls essential work in baskets.

 

Can it be done? Has anyone made the drastic change? Any older threads to look for ideas to help, there was one where it talked about all their HS in a suitcase, I couldn't find anything in the search button.

 

So basically, I'll use the internet more, my library more, and I'm hoping the more simplified way will help me maintain my schooling and peace of mind, which has become overwhelmed like my home.

 

Much encouragement needed please, links to blogs, pictures websites you name it, to help me keep on task. Advice on how to choose what I seriously need, as opposed to 'oh I like this shiny book, we may use it'

 

Just typing it out has made me see what a sorrowful state I've let myself get into, but has spurred me on to get boxes and start packing up, I just need to know what essentials I  absolutely need .

 

Thanks in advance

 

x

 

 

 

 

[kiwik]

I cannot get rid of books. Can you get them all out and check for duplicates etc for a start? Can you make space somewhere else - get rid of your clothes or husband or something? A kindle is good for classics but you may need more than one. Good luck, keep us informed.

[ezrabean2005]

Here's what I do: I clear a shelf to make a little clear space. Then I look at all the books and think if I lost all of them but one, which one would I want. Then I think, okay if I lost all but two which other one would I keep. That gets the next place on the cleared shelf. I continue in this way until the shelf is full. Then if I have another shelf I can fill, I clear everything off and continue in the same manner.

 

Eventually, you will run out of available space, but the books that are on the shelf are the most loved, or most used. The rest can be mourned over, but given away or sold. The priority of the books becomes very clear when you do it this way. If you see a book left over in the pile that you missed, you must remove a different book or books to allow it to stay.

[abacus2]

Paring down to one 3 shelf case seems awfully sparse. Getting rid of one full big bookshelf makes sense. You probably have that many books that are duplicates, not well loved or replaceable with free ebooks. For the rest, creativity is a good plan. Can you store some books in tv media storage cabinet, China cabinet, nightstands, storage ottomans, high bookshelves, small bookshelves tucked between livingroom furniture and the wall, or on closet shelves?

[ficbot]

All hail the ebook revolution! Seriously, I love ebooks. I can have as many books as I want and they don't take up any space. I do like the look and feel of a nice print book, but what I do is recognize my shelf space is limited and so save it for the books which really are pretty (cookbooks, a few teaching books where layout is important, etc.) Everything else goes on my readers. I also have free ebook software (Calibre) where you can browse the books, sort them onto virtual bookshelves and see the covers :)

 

Step 1: Make a pile of any book which was published more than 50 years ago. Google the titles on Project Gutenberg, Project Gutenberg Australia and Project Gutenberg Canada. Any books you find there, download them (for free!) and donate the paper copy.

 

Step 2: Make a second pile for any books which are mostly plain text and not relying on images or fancy layouts. See if there is a Kindle version. If there is, wishlist it and donate the paper copy. You can re-buy these as needed, but I suggest not going nutsy with this on the 'someday' books and waiting until you actually need a title.

 

Step 3: See what's left. Get rid of any books you know you won't need again and then sort the rest. Maybe some of the kids fiction can go in their rooms for fun reading? Maybe some of the adult books can go in your room or in a shelf somewhere else? Maybe part of the decor of your dad's new room could be a wall bookcase which already has some books?

 

Step 4: Download Calibre software (free!) and import all the books. You can even install plug-ins which will decrypt the Kindle books and let you work with those too. Use the 'edit metadata' button to put in categories and change the cover art if you wish. Then just plug in a tablet or ebook reader device, and transfer your books. Done!

[Spryte]

I have struggled with this, too.  Many moons ago, before DS, we had a library.  Every wall was covered in floor to ceiling bookshelves.  The overflow was housed in different rooms, every room had its own set of bookshelves.  Then came DS, and we converted the library room to his room.  The books in his room went into boxes, which went into storage.  I could not bear to part with them.  Our shelves in the other rooms bulged and groaned.

 

After 7 years or so, I realized that very rarely did I go out and get a book from storage!  ...That's what sparked the change.  I slowly started purging books, and can't tell you how much lighter I feel!

 

A few thoughts that helped me... I read them here, but have no idea who said them originally... I will paraphrase the ideas that helped most:

 

- I have a huge set of bookshelves, rooms full of books.  Any time I want to read a book not easily in reach, I go to my personal book storage system ... the library.  Seriously.  This helped me.  I realized that so many of the books I hang onto are a the library.  I don't have to own them.  In fact, I donated many of my books to the library, where they are now living happily, and probably are read more often.

 

- Going through a shelf or a box, I would pick up each book and think about my emotional response.  Does it make me feel happy?  Does it make me feel guilty (haven't read it, intend to reread it but haven't, etc).  Any guilt means it goes in the donate box.  If it makes me feel happy - am I going to reread it in the next year?  If so, it goes in the reread stack, if not - donate box.  

 

- I have/had a gigantic collection from my mentor/best friend who passed away.  She was a prof in my field, and I have/had many of the books she collected getting her PhD, etc.  I finally managed to release many of those books by reminding myself that she is not in the books (or the many other items from her that are in my home!).  Her memory is in my heart.  The books I'm not actively using are going out of date in my storage.  Time to release.

 

- Initial cost - yes, there was one, but how much is all that square footage in our home worth?  What do we pay for that square footage?  I've completely released the "initial cost" argument this way.  Once the shelves started clearing out and I could find what I wanted, the freedom was priceless.

 

- Giving specific collections to people I know will appreciate them makes me smile.  :)  I've freecycled a lot of books.  

 

- I don't try to sell them.  That would be overwhelming.  I sort them by box, and let the boxes go.  If someone else sells them, well, that may be what they need to do... And that's okay with me.  Once I've given them away, they belong to someone else.

 

I'm sure I could think of more random thoughts that inspired me over the years - I tend to hang onto the thoughts that make it work for me, to release things, and sort of keep repeating them as I purge.  

 

Hope some of this gives you some inspiration about where to start!

 

 

 

- 

[Arcadia]

 

Can it be done? Has anyone made the drastic change? Any older threads to look for ideas to help, there was one where it talked about all their HS in a suitcase, I couldn't find anything in the search button.

This is probably the thread you were looking for.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/440943-could-you-homeschool-k-8-out-of-one-carry-on-suitcase/

 

I have always lived in small homes (818 ~ 1024 sqft) so decluttering is part of life. We keep box worth of sentimental stuff. Then anything else that have not been used in five years goes to friends and Goodwill. When I can't find something I need because there is too much clutter, its time for me to do spring cleaning. My parents fall more on the minimalist side though my dad keeps more sentimental stuff than my mum.

I was tidying up old photos and my home was so much less cluttered when my kids were three and under :(

ETA:

California is earthquake prone so I also think in terms of if we need to evacuate, then I want it easy for us to grab what we really need and be okay with losing any of the stuff we have to leave behind.

[dragonflyer]

I DO think it is worth decluttering, but if more space would help....

We bought some 1"x18"x8foot boards from Lowes, painted, mounted with brackets about 18" from the ceiling.  I have 4 shelves in the study, 4 in the guest room, and 1 in the hall none of which use up floor square footage.

HTH,

[Alte Veste Academy]

I am in the middle of an enormous book purge. I love books, but at a certain point I realized that they were starting to overwhelm me. (Plus we are an Army family dangerously close to our weight allowance!) While I love books, I did not love ALL my books equally. I saw my storehouse of books as potential, if that makes sense. But we have an amazing library system and I am perfectly happy at this point to let the library house all the potential while I simply house what we love. :D

 

I started with the schoolroom and was ruthless. While I was as sick over the thought of it as you were in the beginning, doing it actually felt good. I felt powerful. And it was made much easier than I thought it would be because of the single criterion I established before I even began. I came up with a simple but powerful question to determine whether a book stayed or went--if my house burned down, would I buy this again? If the answer was no, it went (sold or donated). If the answer was yes (and it could be because the item was useful, loved, or both), it stayed. I still have more books than the ordinary person, but when I look at my shelves, I feel peaceful. I love everything there.

[Gentlemommy]

I just purged about 750 books, approximately 1/3 of my home library. It felt great! I sold a few to a used book shop, but donated most. Now my shelves are clean and organized and I don't feel guilty having a ton of curricula that isn't being used.

[Hunter]

I'm purging like mad. I'm going from 13 bookcases to just 1. I'm purging the rest of my possessions too, which are already very few anyway, but I've actually been in the same apartment long enough to have socks with holes in them, and stuff like that.

 

For a little while hoarding books was fun. But then all of a sudden I felt trapped, and then we had an earthquake and a tall bookcase was wobbling over me, I wanted to get rid of them ALL. I didn't do anything for a bit, making sure I wasn't just going through a phase. Then circumstances kept piling on circumstances, and the great purge started.

 

I want to get my clothes back down to one suitcase and my books down to one bookcase. Then I'll tackle the kitchen. It's already pretty pathetically empty in there, but I do have yogurt and cottage cheese containers without lids :lol:

 

After my divorce, I've lived out of a backpack twice, and lost everything. There were perks to that, believe it or not. I tried to settle down a bit again, but it just makes me nervous, especially now that my housing is at risk, and I might have to move--I don't know where. It's just time to get back to basics, for me.

[PrairieSong]

I am doing this now. I am keeping what I truly love, especially if it is rare and out of print. If I could easily get it from the library, or I don't really love it, it can go to a new home.

[EducatedbyLife]

Thank you so much ladies for all your replies.

 

So many tips, and ideas to get me started, well actually I already started, because after posting my thread I got the tape measure out. Not only that, I started to sort cupboards out in my kitchen, as I felt I could free up a couple to help store curricula/craft. I'm with you Hunter as regards pots without lids, I can't believe how much junk I'm storing!

 

I had a lovely indoor fake tree, doesn't look fake, but it looked pretty with fairy lights around it, I kept looking at it, it's 6 ft high, 2-3 feet across with branches, stuck in the corner next to my welsh dresser. Well no longer, I've moved it outside, where it looks pretty good, and I will wrap solar lights around it, so it looks pretty again. Any how, the space left has opened up for a narrow bookcase from ikea, the hemnes one in grey brown. I'm on my holidays next week (I live in the UK) I'm so chuffed, there is room to slide a very small set of drawers by the side. I'm beginning to look at my home in a different light, what can I jiggle about to make more storage space. The idea about bookshelves near the ceiling is a good one, thank you for that.

 

Those that have had to pare down and had similar feelings to how I feel now, you give me so much hope. For my husband it would be a case of box up and get rid, but the emotional pain I feel in contemplating it really does hurt. It's a much more slower process, yet many have described how cathartic it is. I want that feeling! I always seem cluttered in my mind, no wonder I'm cluttered in my home! I will put to good use the suggestions -  if my house burnt down, do I love the book etc. I will read the suitcase thread, thanks for the link, to help me prioritize.

 

I feel I'm at a life changing moment and I need to grab with both hands, on holiday next week so will plan, then I've a week at home to make those changes, before schooling starts in earnest again.

 

 

[EducatedbyLife]

This is the bookcase

and these are the drawers

 

both from Ikea

 

[SailorMom]

_{I just had to pare down for a move.  Thankfully, I have done this in the past few years a few times.....  I had to be brutal.} 

_{We have Nooks, so that helps.  I decided that I'd keep up-to-date reference books, as we all like using hard copy reference books and text books rather than e-books.  I'd keep any book that I thought I'd read again, or that my kids would possibly read.  I ended up keeping a small pile of children's' books that had special meaning or were autographed.} 

_{One thought that always helps me is that books need to be read, and they aren't normally getting read if they are covered in dust on a shelf :)  People with little money to buy books can get them very inexpensively through GoodWill, so that's where I donate them knowing that they will get read again - rather than be dust collectors.}

_{Also - I think some people assign some sort of ego-boosting, "look how smart/literary/well-read we are" value to having a huge number of books on shelves.  We with E-Books do not have that feeling :)  Recognizing that (as I had to do with myself) before purging can really help}

[Twigs]

:bigear:

Lot's of great ideas here. Thanks for sharing.